How will you facilitate an authentic collaborative learning experience to promote deeper student engagement with content skills and concepts? “Kids are not intellectually empty. Even though some of what they know may be incomplete, biased, or wrong, they arrive at school full of knowledge, thoughts, ideas, and opinions about their world and their universe” (Prensky, 2008, p. 42). Students use the internet, especially social working, to access information. As teachers, we can draw on the knowledge that students enter our classroom possessing, and their use of technology, the internet, and social networking to engage students in their learning and create authentic learning experiences. Collaboration allows people to work together and create understandings and products that would not be possible without the combined brain power of several minds. In order to gain the maximum benefits from collaborative learning, students must be taught how to work collaboratively and given time and experiences in collaborative learning groups. For this problem-based learning unit, students will work in small collaborative groups as a task force. Each task force will be asked to solve a problem that affects students daily, bullying, so it is authentic to the students and what is important to them. Students will be able to bring in their own knowledge, experiences, ideas, thoughts, and opinions about bullying. The knowledge that the come with will be valued. The content skills and concepts that students will be asked to explore will be critical to creating an effective solution to their problem, creating an engaging learning experience. Students will want to learn the content information because they will want to create an effective solution to this problem because it affects them and their friends.
As members of collaborative groups, how will you support students’ efforts to identify solutions to the problem you are using as the framework for your PBL instructional unit? Since the solutions suggested by students will be guided by research, students will be given a list of suggested sites that they may refer to in their research. This will help them focus their search with sites that have already been established as effective resources. However, the hope is that students use the information to create creative, unique solutions. Their plan will likely include a compilation of several solutions. The hope is that the sites will spark their thinking, and not stifle their creativity and limit them to a small list of solutions. Students will be encouraged to suggest new, different solutions. An important aspect of working in groups is valuing the ideas of each member of the group. While every solution suggested will not be incorporated into the solution proposed by the group, it is important for each idea to receive equal consideration and thought. So, students will be expected to support each other and provide positive, constructive feedback to the group members. Students will be encouraged to create a variety of possible solutions, so that they have choices in the creation of their plan.
What criteria will you use to assign learners to collaborative groups, including a rationale? What will be the size of the collaborative groups you will include in your unit? Learners will work in collaborative groups of three, no more than four, students. Groups of three to four students will provide enough brain power to come up with good solutions. However, they will not be so big that some students can choose not to complete any of the work. Students will be given the opportunity to choose their own groups. The expectation is established that when you select your group, you choose people you will work with to complete the assignment. Students that do not form their own groups will be placed in groups. The rationale behind allowing students to choose their own groups is based on my experience with and observations of the current group of students throughout this year. Work that has been completed in groups in which students were given a choice was more effective and productive. Students were more motivated to do well, because their friends were relying on them. Problems within the groups, like not working well together or supporting the ideas of the group members, were lessened in the self-selected groups. Overall, the increased effectiveness of the self-selected groups far outweighs the small issues that may come up with students socializing, instead of working.
Which digital tools and websites are you considering for collaboration in your unit? There are two primary digital tools and websites that will be included for collaboration in this problem-based unit. First, a website that is already an important tool for collaboration in the classroom, Edmodo, will be used as a place for students to communicate about their projects. Since Edmodo allows teachers to create small groups within the class, once students create their groups, groups will be created on Edmodo to provide each group a private space to collaborate. The second tool, a wiki, will be used for students to compile their information and complete their work. The wiki will allow students to work both in and out of the classroom, and it will allow students to work simultaneously. Since wikis are easy to use, the students can learn how to use them quickly, so their focus is on the creation of a solution to the problem, and not on learning how to use a new digital tool.
How will you assess participation of the students in their collaborative groups? Participation of the students will be assessed in two ways. First, I will look at their work on the group wiki and their posts on Edmodo. This will allow me to see exactly what each student is contributing in their online workspaces. The second part of the evaluation of student participation will come from their group members. Students will be given a rubric, which will serve as their evaluation tool. Often students are willing to give their friends a good grade, regardless of their contributions. The evaluation tool given to students to evaluate their group members will require both a rating and a reflection, which will involve a written justification of the group member’s grade. Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2010) suggest using a group process rubric that asks students to reflect on the contributions and cooperation of themselves their group members (p. 115). This rubric could be used in conjunction with a more reflection-based rubric. The self and peer evaluations will be supported by the evidence provided through the Edmodo and wiki histories.
“Kids are not intellectually empty. Even though some of what they know may be incomplete, biased, or wrong, they arrive at school full of knowledge, thoughts, ideas, and opinions about their world and their universe” (Prensky, 2008, p. 42). Students use the internet, especially social working, to access information. As teachers, we can draw on the knowledge that students enter our classroom possessing, and their use of technology, the internet, and social networking to engage students in their learning and create authentic learning experiences. Collaboration allows people to work together and create understandings and products that would not be possible without the combined brain power of several minds. In order to gain the maximum benefits from collaborative learning, students must be taught how to work collaboratively and given time and experiences in collaborative learning groups. For this problem-based learning unit, students will work in small collaborative groups as a task force. Each task force will be asked to solve a problem that affects students daily, bullying, so it is authentic to the students and what is important to them. Students will be able to bring in their own knowledge, experiences, ideas, thoughts, and opinions about bullying. The knowledge that the come with will be valued. The content skills and concepts that students will be asked to explore will be critical to creating an effective solution to their problem, creating an engaging learning experience. Students will want to learn the content information because they will want to create an effective solution to this problem because it affects them and their friends.
As members of collaborative groups, how will you support students’ efforts to identify solutions to the problem you are using as the framework for your PBL instructional unit?
Since the solutions suggested by students will be guided by research, students will be given a list of suggested sites that they may refer to in their research. This will help them focus their search with sites that have already been established as effective resources. However, the hope is that students use the information to create creative, unique solutions. Their plan will likely include a compilation of several solutions. The hope is that the sites will spark their thinking, and not stifle their creativity and limit them to a small list of solutions. Students will be encouraged to suggest new, different solutions. An important aspect of working in groups is valuing the ideas of each member of the group. While every solution suggested will not be incorporated into the solution proposed by the group, it is important for each idea to receive equal consideration and thought. So, students will be expected to support each other and provide positive, constructive feedback to the group members. Students will be encouraged to create a variety of possible solutions, so that they have choices in the creation of their plan.
What criteria will you use to assign learners to collaborative groups, including a rationale? What will be the size of the collaborative groups you will include in your unit?
Learners will work in collaborative groups of three, no more than four, students. Groups of three to four students will provide enough brain power to come up with good solutions. However, they will not be so big that some students can choose not to complete any of the work. Students will be given the opportunity to choose their own groups. The expectation is established that when you select your group, you choose people you will work with to complete the assignment. Students that do not form their own groups will be placed in groups. The rationale behind allowing students to choose their own groups is based on my experience with and observations of the current group of students throughout this year. Work that has been completed in groups in which students were given a choice was more effective and productive. Students were more motivated to do well, because their friends were relying on them. Problems within the groups, like not working well together or supporting the ideas of the group members, were lessened in the self-selected groups. Overall, the increased effectiveness of the self-selected groups far outweighs the small issues that may come up with students socializing, instead of working.
Which digital tools and websites are you considering for collaboration in your unit?
There are two primary digital tools and websites that will be included for collaboration in this problem-based unit. First, a website that is already an important tool for collaboration in the classroom, Edmodo, will be used as a place for students to communicate about their projects. Since Edmodo allows teachers to create small groups within the class, once students create their groups, groups will be created on Edmodo to provide each group a private space to collaborate. The second tool, a wiki, will be used for students to compile their information and complete their work. The wiki will allow students to work both in and out of the classroom, and it will allow students to work simultaneously. Since wikis are easy to use, the students can learn how to use them quickly, so their focus is on the creation of a solution to the problem, and not on learning how to use a new digital tool.
How will you assess participation of the students in their collaborative groups?
Participation of the students will be assessed in two ways. First, I will look at their work on the group wiki and their posts on Edmodo. This will allow me to see exactly what each student is contributing in their online workspaces. The second part of the evaluation of student participation will come from their group members. Students will be given a rubric, which will serve as their evaluation tool. Often students are willing to give their friends a good grade, regardless of their contributions. The evaluation tool given to students to evaluate their group members will require both a rating and a reflection, which will involve a written justification of the group member’s grade. Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2010) suggest using a group process rubric that asks students to reflect on the contributions and cooperation of themselves their group members (p. 115). This rubric could be used in conjunction with a more reflection-based rubric. The self and peer evaluations will be supported by the evidence provided through the Edmodo and wiki histories.